Iron sunrise

The planet Moscow is annihilated when its star is destabilized by an illegal causality-violation device — an "iron sunrise" — and the automated retaliatory systems of the dying world have already fired on the system judged responsible: New Dresden. The only problem is that New Dresden didn't do it, and the missiles are already inbound.

UN agent Rachel Mansour, fresh off the events of Singularity Sky, is sent with her husband Martin Springfield to find the real culprit before New Dresden burns for someone else's crime — teaming up along the way with a jaded blogger, a group of sinister neo-fascists, and a teenage survivor of Moscow's destruction who may hold the key to the whole conspiracy. Charles Stross's Eschaton sequel pairs hard-SF scale with a ticking-clock thriller.